Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1106
Pennsylvania to open dementia unit at Rockview prison
Acknowledging the challenge of a rapidly aging prison population, Pennsylvania will open its first unit devoted to inmates with dementia and associated memory loss diseases later this year, Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said this week. Wetzel said the new neurocognitive care unit at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview,...
Vaccinated teachers, students don’t need masks, CDC says
NEW YORK — Vaccinated teachers and students don’t need to wear masks inside school buildings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in relaxing its covid-19 guidelines. The changes come amid a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 are eligible to get shots, as...
Biden set to sign competition order targeting big business
President Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. The sweeping order includes 72 actions and recommendations that...
Lily’s restaurant in Allegheny Township closes for season, cites lack of staffing
A scenic eatery in Allegheny Township has closed for the summer and fall season. Lily’s, the renovated restaurant at River Forest Country Club overlooking the golf course, announced the closing on social media last week. Referring to the decision to close as “tough” in a Facebook post, Lily’s blamed the...
Controversial Carnegie Museum diorama back on full displayVideo
After spending a year hidden from view, the controversial diorama “Lion Attacking a Dromedary” is back on full display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Oakland. The compelling scene depicts a violent encounter between two lions and a courier riding a dromedary — a one-humped camel. A ferocious...
Pittsburgh police arrest ‘violent offender’ accused of daylight assault of woman on North Shore
Pittsburgh police arrested a man they deemed a “violent offender” who is accused in the daylight assault of a woman along a North Shore trail after she rebuffed his advances. Ozell Austin, 58, is charged with strangulation, attempted rape, indecent assault and other misdemeanors in connection with the June 28...
Police: Man arrested after breaking in, showering at Bethel Park apartment then fighting with police
A Bethel Park woman woke early Wednesday morning to find a strange man in her shower, according to police. The man would later tell officers he was simply looking for a place to take a shower. The woman, who lives in an apartment complex on McMurray Road, told police she...
Husband of former Pittsburgh woman among victims of Miami condo collapse
The husband of a former Pittsburgh woman was among the dead found in the rubble of the Miami condo collapse. Ruslan Manashirov, 36, was one of five additional victims identified by the Miami-Dade Police Department on Thursday. That brings the total number of victims to 68, according to the department’s...
Gov. Tom Wolf calls election audit plan a ‘disgrace to democracy’
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday said it is a “disgrace to democracy” that a Republican state lawmaker is trying to launch what he calls a “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election, similar to what is happening in Arizona. Wolf, a Democrat, said on Twitter that the “sham...
Pfizer to seek OK for 3rd covid-19 vaccine dose
Pfizer is about to seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its covid-19 vaccine, saying Thursday that another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the latest worrisome coronavirus mutant. Research from multiple countries shows the Pfizer shot and other widely used covid-19...
ATI ‘outraged’ by picketer dressed as ‘Grim Reaper,’ carrying noose
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. is investigating an incident in which a striking employee was reportedly seen carrying a scythe and wearing a “Grim Reaper” mask and a noose around his neck outside of the company’s plate mill in Washington, Pa., a company spokeswoman said Thursday. Craig Smalls, 53, a replacement worker...
Owner of Chomp, Beechview’s wayward gator, dodges cruelty charge, still faces neglect charges
A judge acquitted the owner of a 5-foot alligator that escaped from his home in 2019 of one count of animal cruelty on Thursday, but the other 37 charges against him remain in play. Defense attorney Julia Gitelman on Friday intends to call several witnesses who she says will testify...
Investigators: 2 Florida men involved in Haitian President Moïse’s assassination
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two Florida men have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the Miami Herald has learned. James Solages, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was identified as one of the assailants by Mathias Pierre, a minister in charge of Haitian elections. Pierre did not...
ATI investing millions in expansion of Vandergrift operations
A four-month strike by workers at ATI hasn’t impacted plans to upgrade and expand the company’s Vandergrift operations from moving forward. “We’ve been proceeding as planned throughout all of the strike activities,” said Danielle Carlini, Vandergrift’s ATI project manager for specialty rolled products. The expansion is set to happen over...
Cleanup continues after storms topple trees, knock out power in Western Pa.Video
The tiniest victims of Wednesday afternoon’s storms that toppled two towering trees along Harrison’s stately Carlisle Street may have been found by the steps to Tina Kahilainen’s porch. While Kahilainen’s home of seven years had damage to its roof and at least one bedroom, a robin’s nest — likely once...
Feds: Glenshaw man charged in Jan. 6 riot had Lego model of Capitol, militia notes
EDITOR’S NOTE: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed an updated memo July 9 that detailed how the Lego model of the Capitol was in a box and wasn’t “fully constructed” as prosecutors initially stated. A Glenshaw man facing federal charges for helping to lead the Jan....
3 old cases against Unity man linked to woman’s disappearance dismissed
Three pending criminal cases were dismissed against a man state police linked to the 2018 disappearance of a Unity woman. Westmoreland County Judge Timothy Krieger ruled prosecutors took too long to bring Thomas G. Stanko, 50, to trial in the cases unrelated to the disappearance — two from 2018 and...
Proposal would keep Pittsburgh’s covid paid sick leave until 90% of Pa. is vaccinated
Pittsburgh businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to provide paid sick leave to workers who contract covid-19 or who are required to quarantine, under legislation city Councilman Bobby Wilson introduced Wednesday. The requirement would be in effect until 90% of the eligible Pennsylvania population is vaccinated. The...
The Waterfront set to add tacos, shoes and other new stores
The Waterfront shopping center in Homestead is adding four tenants. Boards & Baskets, Shoe Fly, Appalachian Running Co. and Shorty’s Tap x Taco are planned to open sometime this summer. Boards & Baskets is a charcuterie deli which will sell the traditional cured meats, cheese, vegetables, nuts, olives, dried fruits,...
1 dead, 1 injured in house fire in Etna
A woman died Thursday morning in a house fire in Etna. Etna Volunteer Fire Department Chief Greg Porter said the woman was in her 80s. Porter said her adult son was able to make it out of the duplex and was transported to a hospital for smoke inhalation. Multiple fire...
Global covid-19 deaths hit 4 million amid rush to vaccinate
The global death toll from covid-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant. The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal...
Study: Northwest heat wave impossible without climate change
The deadly heat wave that roasted the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures, a new quick scientific analysis found. An international team of 27 scientists calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme...
Police: Pittsburgh man arrested in connection with February shooting death of North Hills honors student
A man wanted in connection with the February slaying of a North Hills honors student was apprehended Wednesday in California, according to Pittsburgh police. Howard Hawkins, 46, of Pittsburgh was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in North Hollywood on a homicide warrant for the shooting of 18-year-old Ahmir Tuli,...
Severe thunderstorm warning issued for central Westmoreland County
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued Wednesday night for central Westmoreland County, according to the National Weather Service. The warning, which includes Southwestern Indiana County, was issued shortly after 8:20 p.m. and is in effect until 9 p.m. According to the warning, wind gusts could reach up to 60 mph...
Search crews give up hope of finding survivors at Miami-area condo collapse site; death toll hits 54
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Emergency workers gave up Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in the collapsed Florida condo building, telling sobbing families that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains. The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency...
